


Secrets below the Water

by Bluemoondust



Category: Crankiplier - Fandom, Unus Annus - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Injuries, No Smut, Not Beta Read, The Gongoozler - Freeform, Transformation, depictions of blood, not inherently romantic, tw puking, you can read it as platonic or romantic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28874850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluemoondust/pseuds/Bluemoondust
Summary: Mark wrung for breath, coughing hoarsely as he searched the pool for his friend. Jesus, he didn’t remember his pool being that big and deep. “Ethan?! Fuck-“ He swam forward, ready to duck once again when all of a sudden something was grabbing his ankle, pulling him down into the water. He managed to hold his breath in time as he frantically flailed with his arms in a helpless motion. Was Ethan just playing a lengthy prank on him?He turned around, expecting Ethan underneath him with a shit grin on his face.Instead, he met with two yellow eyes.Ethan had been acting weird lately and Mark failed in trying to figure out why. Until one day, when they both filmed at his Pool, Ethan’s secret was unintentionally revealed.
Relationships: Mark Fischbach & Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor
Comments: 9
Kudos: 70





	Secrets below the Water

**Author's Note:**

> TW's: There are depictions of Injuries and blood but nothing too graphic, read at your own risk. There is also a short puking scene and if you want to skip it, stop at the sentence: 'He didn’t even get to finish his sentence as his friend hurried to the bathroom.' and go on at: 'Until the door opened.'
> 
> Stay save and enjoy the fic :)

Over time, Ethan and Mark’s friendship developed to a point where one could sometimes read the other person like an open book. You learn about particular behavior patterns at the most specific or random moments. It’s a good feeling to know that even at the lack of words, the other will understand you or at least will try and be supportive.

So, it was only natural that Mark picked up on Ethan’s newly found odd behavior.

It wasn’t like- _Super_ weird and other people might not even notice it but to Mark it was comparable to a jackhammer sound in your neighbor’s yard.

Impossible to ignore.

If he recalled, it began when he noticed Ethan constantly itching himself while planning video Ideas for Unus Annus. The younger man’s eyes tried to stay glued on Mark’s face and yet they darted to every corner of the room like an anxious animal. He could blame it on his ADHD but he has never seen his friend so on edge.

“Dude, that’s like- the thirtieth time you scratched yourself, are you okay?” Ethan’s head perked up so rapidly he might have pulled his neck muscles.

“I uh think it’s an allergic reaction or something… maybe the material of my sweatshirt.” Mark eyed him up and down. He knew that Pastel sweater with the bear print, it was one of Ethan’s favorites and he had seen him wearing it a bunch of times without acting up.

Mark could’ve pressed on but he decided not to, as he noticed that Ethan’s wasn’t at all down to talk about whatever he was going through at the moment.

The next ‘incident’ if you will, happened after they took a break from filming. Mark had almost forgot about all of this because during filming, he was yet again surprised by Ethan’s professionalism to be able to switch from being frantic to deliberately whacky and hilarious. Everything was fine, it was normal. Until when Ethan suddenly had to use his bathroom.

As fast as he had managed to switch from anxious to professional, he switched from normal to nauseous looking.

A pale face looked at Mark with wide hazel eyes.

“Mark- I- I need to use your bathroom, may I-“ “Dude, of course. Call if you need help, you seem-“

He didn’t even get to finish his sentence as his friend hurried to the bathroom. That wasn’t necessarily concerning, we all had been in that moment before.

But as he repositioned his film equipment, the man accidentally overheard a hurling sound from within the bathroom that almost made Mark’s stomach churn in response. Christ, was Ethan puking?

He didn’t want to just ignore his friend apparently vomiting his guts out to put it clear so he decided to offer help. Any help at all because frankly, Ethan freaked him out today. _‘Was he sick?’_

“Ethan, do you need help?”

Silence was the only response. Mark didn’t know if this was a good or a bad sign.

Soon after he could hear flushing and the faucet running.

And running.

And running.

Until the door opened.

“Jesus Christ, Ethan you frightened me, what-“ He stopped in his sentence as he saw his friend or more accurately, the ghost of his friend barely keeping himself from collapsing in front of him.

“ ‘M Sorry… pluh-please-“

All he could manage was catching Ethan before he fell onto the ground and fainted.

Mark’s breath hitched in panic. “Ethan, fuck!” He held him close to his chest, his head next to his increasing heart beat as he hooked his other arm underneath the younger man’s legs, carrying him towards the nearest couch.

He then searched for a blanket, a glass of water for when he woke up and a pillow to support his head. All the while his thoughts ran 100 miles per hour.

 _Was Ethan actually sick and he just downplayed it as to not bother anyone?_ Mark knew how self-neglecting his friend could be _. Was it food poisoning? Hopefully not from their lunch, Mark was fine. Or was it some other secret Ethan kept from him that was far more complicated than one would think at first?_

He hoped to God that it was neither of those.

Mark watched Ethan’s still unconscious, pale face. Christ he almost looks as though he wouldn’t wake up again. As soon as the thought came to his mind a shiver ran down his spine, making Mark squeeze Ethan’s left hand even tighter. _Wait- when did he take Ethan’s hand_? Well, he didn’t mind. In fact, the steady pulse he could feel when holding his friend’s wrist was comforting in a lot of ways. His thumb caressed the back of Ethan’s cold hand in beat with his pulse. To calm his friend down or himself, he didn’t know.

He wanted to look out for his Bud. Be the friend that he needed and yet, Mark couldn’t help but feel bad. Questioning if he should’ve paid better attention and Ethan was just a master in hiding his painful secrets, keeping it even from Mark’s scrutinizing eyes.

Deeply sunken in his thoughts, he felt the blanket ruffling and a familiar voice wincing quietly.

“Mark?”

“Ethan, how are you?” he blurted out, trying to hold back his deep concern for the other. Wouldn’t want to give him an opportunity to tease the older man, would you.

“I… I don’t know. I am so sorry that I fainted and made all this fuss and god, I puked into your toilet, I will clean it up I promise, I-“

“Ethan, Bud, please don’t apologize. It is not your fault and I don’t hold that bathroom thing against you! Not one bit!”

Mark crouched down in front of the couch to be at eye level with his friend who was clearly going through something.

Ethan tried to sit up a notch to not be talking to Mark in an awkward angle.

Mark handed him the glass of water he retrieved earlier, which he gladly took. Mark patiently waited for him to finish his refreshment, not wanting to pressure him into talking.

“Bub, you don’t have to be so worried about me, okay?” The younger man smiled softly, reaching out to pat the other’s arm. Mark felt his cheeks redden. Shit, he didn’t seem to be very good at hiding his emotions after all. Or maybe he just let his vulnerability show more often around Ethan, whether that be consciously or subconsciously.

Mark was supposed to be the one to comfort Ethan, not the other way around.

“I- you scared me a bit Eth…” Well, this sincerity didn’t help his cause at all.

“But you scared me for a reason. Eth, you don’t have to talk about it but just know: you can always come to me if you need help, you know that, right?”

He felt like a knot of concern, care and something else he couldn’t quite place has grown inside his stomach, tightening his throat. His eyes, riddled with worry, searched Ethan’s expression for an answer to his questions, a promise that his friend would always trust him no matter what.

Ethan was the first to break eye contact. His answer was barely a whisper yet audible enough for Mark to hear.

“I don’t want to lose you.”

This was so clearly just a drop of the huge ocean that was most definitely the source of this problem and Mark wanted to be the one to break the dam but he decided not to. Because Mark also didn’t want to lose Ethan.

“You won’t.” Mark whispered just as quietly back.

Ethan didn’t comment any further on their talk as they both moved on with their day.

After days and weeks had passed by, Mark involuntarily shoved that ‘incident’ in the back of his mind. Whether it be the ludicrous amount of work he was doing or the fact that Ethan’s usual bubbly personality slowly returned after being on standby mode.

It’s true, both of them were diving back into their regular habits, cranking up idea after idea for Unus Annus in their obvious ‘infinite wisdom’ and just enjoying spending time together.

Mark had almost forgot about it, excusing it as some sort of temporary illness, nothing too serious.

Like most days, the blazing hot Californian sun gave them the opportunity to film outside again. Amy and Evan had already set up the obligatory camera equipment, pointing in their direction.

“As you probably remember - _if you watch all of our videos as you should_ – Ethan bought me a huge 10 feet tall- was it 10 feet?” “12 feet actually.” Corrected his partner. “12 feet tall beachball.”

He walked to the side with the camera lens following him for the grand reveal. Which turned out to be a rather disappointing one as they presented the now pathetically deflated beachball.

“Well, that’s disappointing…” Mark scoffed, acting offended. “What do you mean _‘disappointing’_ , the point is that we inflate it to its maximum potential and then we see what we can do with it.”

Ethan looked at Amy’s camera in true ‘Office’ style when he furrowed his eyebrows. “ _That’s_ the video? Just- inflating a beachball and fucking around with it?” He flailed his arms in disbelief.

“Yeaahh, that’s what the viewers want, all the time they’ve been asking where that damn ball is. Who knows, maybe this will somehow lead us to also finding our missing Unus Annus Tandem bike.”

“Mark, that’s a stupid idea.”

“If you keep up that attitude, I will personally crush you with that ball once I inflate it, which will be in a few minutes, given how I will be able to inflate it faster than you ever could with my _strong manly lunges._ ”

Their video continued like a typical Unus Annus video. The ball only functioning as a component to the video, while they both were the entertainers with their shenanigans, antics and familiar randomness.

It seemed as if nothing could go wrong at this point except if Mark would fall and bash his nose for the third time.

Yet something did go wrong.

The now dirty and lightly deflated ball floated in the middle of the pool for the second time today, due to their excessive throwing.

“Aw shit, alright you get it this time.” Mark already got his shorts partially wet at his attempt to get the ball and it was _not_ pleasant.

Ethan’s expression faltered for a moment before he put on his ‘pleading puppy’ face. “Maaark, I don’t wanna. Besides, your shorts are already wet, what would it matter if it got a bit more wet, hm?”

“Exactly, my shorts are already wet and you lazy bastard didn’t move a finger when I got it so it’s only fair for you to get it!” Mark crossed his arms, showing that he wasn’t going to argue over it any further.

If it weren’t for the fact that Ethan’s eyes showed more sincerity than what was normal for a video, making Mark doubt his decision over committing to the bit. Was Ethan truly scared to get the ball? But why?

He didn’t have time to revoke his statement, getting it instead of Ethan as the younger man suddenly turned around to get the ball with a long stick, conveniently laying in the grass.

The lack of dialogue or banter got almost too awkward for Mark’s liking and he decided to try and ease the mood.

“Alright, are you gonna get it or do your shorts happen to be Gucci-“

Ethan managed to kick the ball onto the other side of the pool with one heap but he couldn’t maintain his balance, almost falling into the pool. Thankfully he caught himself and the only limb getting in contact with the water was his previously outstretched arm.

Mark inhaled, ready to comment on Ethan’s action as he watched his friend swiftly pull back his hand, pressing it against his chest as if he just got burned.

The older man quickly exchanged looks with Amy, reading confusion in her eyes. He stepped towards the crouched frame of Ethan.

“Hey man, are you-“ He stopped as he caught a glance at Ethan’s forearm. The usual white skin was now showing an unnatural greenish turquoise shade. Mark’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline at this uncanny new discovery.

What kind of fucked up allergic reaction was that??

Before he could ask any questions, Ethan stood up, quickly hiding his arm behind him as he smiled in Mark’s direction.

“Thought I was about to get soaking wet but jokes on you, none of my clothes are wet.”

Mark didn’t have any witty rebuttal in store, not after what he had seen.

Or did he only imagine it? A simple ‘Mirage due to the excessive sunlight? Mark refused to ask his friend about it. He would sound ridiculous: Sorry, did your arm just turn green or am I hallucinating?

So, he decided to let it go. For now.

They managed to cramp up a decent ending for the video, despite the now awkward tension lingering in the air, even after Mark took another glance at Ethan’s arm which returned to its normal skin color during filming.

The sunlight faded into a mystic-colored dusk; a few stars already appeared in the celestial sphere. Mark didn’t turn off the neon lights of the pool yet which showed a somewhat pretty contrast to its darkening environment.

“Exhaustion can sometimes feel good if you know that you have been productive today.” Ethan commented beside him. They were both cleaning up Mark’s garden from the remnants of today’s videos.

“Yeah man, we have four more days’ worth of content. Which is a lot if you think about the fact that it is over soon.”

“Yeah”

They continued to clean up in silence for a few minutes until Ethan spoke up.

“I’m gonna miss this. Despite being exhausted or stressed sometimes, it… it became my daily life and I know that it’s going to be hard to transition.” Mark hummed.

“But I’m also looking forward to what comes after. I honestly can’t wait to tackle new things, new projects.” Mark understood. The end of Unus Annus will definitely be bitter-sweet to the both of them.

“I understand. I for one will treasure the feeling of satisfaction that we did this. That we did this for a whole year.”

They were now done with cleaning up, standing in front of the pool, both looking inward, thinking about what their future holds for them.

“I will miss you.” Mark turned towards Ethan who didn’t reciprocate his eye contact. Sometimes Ethan could be struggling with putting his feelings into words and sometimes he surprised the older man with his directness when it comes to expressing his thoughts and feelings.

“Same here.” Was all he could manage. He wanted to say so much more, that he will always remember this year that they spent together, that he would never pick someone else for Unus Annus even if he had the choice, that he ever so often thinks back to that walk they both did when talking about their new passion project.

But he couldn’t, he didn’t want to expose himself like this and he hoped that deep down, Ethan knew how highly Mark thought of him.

God, this tension was much too sappy for Mark’s liking. He needed to break it asap.

Aha, he might have an idea. Maybe a stupid and a ‘cliché-friends-in-high school-movies’ one but he remembered how reluctant Ethan was when just doing something as simple as _touching_ the water.

“Do you have your phone in your pocket?”

“Uhh no, it’s on the kitchen desk-“

„HAH! Gotchu!”

This was Ethan’s fatal moment as Mark surprise attacked him, pushing him into the water. Being afraid of the water or not, Ethan had been in the pool multiple times already, he wouldn’t _die_ over this.

Ethan screamed.

“Mark, NO DON’T-“

A loud splash could be heard as the body hit the water, creating waves that swept over the concrete, spraying on his shorts, but he didn’t care in that moment, throwing his head back in laughter at the incredulous face Ethan made shortly before being shoved into the Pool.

He didn’t plan on leaving his friend in there and so he followed him after first getting rid of his shirt, with an equally loud splash as he ducked into the water.

Returning to the surface, he shook his head, combing the now wet strands out of his face. When he opened his eyes, Ethan was still nowhere to be seen. “Dude, that trick is not gonna work, you _wish_ I was swimming for you and afterwards you’re going to tease me about it for days. Nuh-uh.”

He took a few leaps with his arms to keep himself afloat.

But his smile quickly faded as there was _still_ no sign of his friend.

This was too long of a silence, even for Ethan. Fuck, did he go unconscious? Did Mark drown him accidentally?

A hard pang of fear spiked through his heart as his throat tightened at the mental image of an unconscious Ethan, floating face down under water. In the span of one second, Mark’s mood turned 180 and he let out a panicked “ETHAN?”.

He immediately went underwater, trying to ignore the chlorine stinging in his eyes. Mark internally cursed when he tried to make out his environment but everything looked kind of milky and glossed and the faint neon lights only helped a little bit.

Something was moving in the shadows in the far back corner of his pool.

With all the strength he could muster at that moment, he swam forward, pressing against the water pressure.

His sight became foggy and he needed to shut his eyes for a split second.

When he opened them again, the moving figure was gone.

Mark wrung for breath, coughing hoarsely as he searched the pool for his friend. Jesus, he didn’t remember his pool being that big and deep. “Ethan?! Fuck-“ He swam forward, ready to duck once again when all of a sudden something was grabbing his ankle, pulling him down into the water. He managed to hold his breath in time as he frantically flailed with his arms in a helpless motion. Was Ethan just playing a lengthy prank on him?

He turned around, expecting Ethan underneath him with a shit grin on his face.

Instead, he met with two yellow eyes, surrounded by a dark green frame what he assumed was a face. On the side of its head were two transparent fins. The creature snarled angrily towards him, revealing an intimidating set of sharp looking fangs.

Before he could process the insanity that was this encounter, he screamed in fear but underwater it just resulted in a pathetic gargled sound with bubbles floating upwards.

With all his power, Mark tried to kick whatever that fish monster was, away from him, successfully so.

But his success was only for a few moments where he had the chance to catch his breath as he felt two hands grabbing his torso, digging into his skin with its claws, pulling him under water yet again.

He tried to defend himself, kicking, scratching, even biting the creature but it was stubborn as hell, keeping him close, no matter how brutal Mark tried to be.

Underwater, he could make out a long, dark green tail with shining scales and impressive looking fins. If he wouldn’t be hostile towards that thing, he would probably admire it. From a distance nonetheless, not mere centimeters away.

No wonder he was terrified of the dark abyss that was the ocean and what lives there when creatures like this one exist!

But this is not the ocean and only his Pool! How on earth did it get _in here_?!

Amidst all this chaos, he remembered Ethan and how he wanted to find him. Did he already flee from what was apparently residing in his backyard and that’s why he couldn’t find him or did that fish thing already tear his friend in shreds?

But there was nothing, no body, no blood, absolutely fucking nothing!

Only the creature and Mark who tried to fight for his life.

The water around him turned into a dark color and in his mouth, he could taste the familiar iron taste of blood. Presumably his own and that of the fish.

A scream erupted from his chest, drowned out by the water as he felt an agonizing sensation of fangs piercing through his skin on his upper leg as he tried to kick the monster.

Despite the mind-numbing pain, Mark conjured up his remaining strength to kick it as hard as he possibly could.

This led the creature to fall backwards, granting him a small timeframe to flee this cursed pool.

He didn’t look back if that thing would follow him or not, he only concentrated to get to the nearest edge, the nearest edge, the nearest-

Finally, Mark met with the familiar concrete and he didn’t waste any time while hoisting himself up onto the hard surface, gasping for air.

He scrambled away as fast as possible, stumbling inside his house to grab the nearest and best weapon he could find to end that monster’s life before it could suddenly form legs to follow his bait.

Thankfully, he found his familiar tactical shovel as well as Bed knife, laying on the table where he was shooting a video only yesterday. Sometimes not being tidy paid off.

Returning outside he held his weapons of choice in both of his hands, ready to be used but he couldn’t see any sea creature gnarling on the edge of the pool, trying to get onto land to catch his desired prey.

But instead, he met with a very different sight.

A coughing Ethan tried to hold himself up on the edge of the pool, still in his swim trunks but incredibly disheveled and soaking wet.

“Ethan!”

Mark immediately drops his weapons and runs towards him.

“Fuck man, I thought you were dead. That thing, did you see it?” His eyes caught onto wounds and purple spots spread across his skin as well as a bleeding gash on his leg, dripping onto the floor together with the water, creating a grotesque pool of blood that could make anyone wonder if they witnessed a murder happening. Mark thinks that it was the sea creature which caused Ethan’s wounds and he pulled him away from the pool. It wasn’t unlikely that the thing would be able to climb out of it, Mark felt its strength first-hand.

The younger man winced in pain, clutching onto Mark’s arm. Only through that contact, Mark felt a stinging sensation in his arms and torso. Right, they were both injured and his Adrenaline kick probably drowned out the pain.

“Mark – it’s not there anymore, stop-“ Ethan doubled over, coughing loudly which didn’t alleviate Mark’s concerns.

“Nonsense, I will get you inside, you are badly injured and probably have a concussion.”

Mark didn’t care about leaving stains of water and blood on his wooden floor, half-carrying Ethan towards his bathroom. He let Ethan down to sit on the toilet seat as he quickly searched for his Aid-Kit.

“Mark, I-“

“Shh, don’t talk, you are still in shock.” Mark hushed in a soft and caring way that he only did when he had to calm Ethan down during one of his panic attacks. “I am here for you.”

Against his expectations, Ethan actually complied, staying quiet. The younger man let out an exhausted sigh, dropping his forehead onto Mark’s shoulder. His soft hair lightly tickled Mark’s chin but the older man refused to reposition himself, as to not shy the other away.

Oh, how he wished he could just curl up on the couch with Ethan, keeping him close, safe and secure only to wake up from a horrible nightmare they both had.

But their reality looked different.

With Ethan’s head still resting on his shoulder, he managed to reach for disinfectant to clean the wound but when he turned back to what he expected was a bloody mess on the brunette’s leg, he actually met with a much smaller wound than he saw outside.

What the hell?

Did his panic make him imagine the wound being bigger than it actually was or did he confuse it with another wound?

Well, it was only for the best that the wound is apparently smaller than he first thought, rather than the other way around. He sprayed the still partially bloody wounds with disinfectant spray, despite Ethan hissing upon the initial sting of the contact. “I know it hurts, but it’s necessary.” Ethan nodded.

Mark then placed several bandages on the younger man’s legs and arms, while simultaneously trying to keep them in place with sticking plaster.

“I think those were all of your wounds…” Mark murmured underneath his breath. Ethan looked him up and down. “Thank you, but- you need to be taken care of as well!” The previously beaten down and exhausted looking younger man suddenly stood up, grabbing his friend and situating him onto the toilet seat where he had sat before against all protests like ‘I can do it myself’ and ‘It’s not that bad.’

“Mark, I don’t want to hear any more excuses, your wounds are going to be treated by me. End of discussion!” He swatted his finger into Mark’s direction in an accusatory manner like an angry principal or something and Mark couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Okay _Mom._ But then I’m gonna judge your techniques very precisely.” Ethan only rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

Mark’s eyes followed Ethan’s movements while preparing bandages, band aids and plasters in a very careful manner. The fact that he was alive, injured but _alive_ and well was almost a miracle.

His smile faded as images of a blood lusting mermaid monster appeared in his mind, trying to keep him underwater, glowing, inhuman eyes piercing through Mark’s fear struck ones.

“Mark?”

Ethan’s concerned voice brought him back to the present. He wasn’t fighting for his life in the water anymore. He was on solid ground with his friend, safe and more importantly: alive.

“I… I thought that sea monster had killed you.”

Ethan stopped in his movements.

“After pushing you into the water… you… you were just- _gone_ and I panicked, you know?” They both stayed silent. “I was so scared, looking for you and… and then I got pulled into the water by that… that _thing_ , whatever it was, fucking scary looking mermaid creature and I had to fight against it because it wouldn’t let me go and that’s how I got these wounds.”

Mark pointed to the ones Ethan was working on.

“I wouldn’t tell you all of this if you weren’t also injured! I don’t know if you have seen it but it was there and- and probably still _is_ but you have to believe me!” Mark only noticed now how his voice picked up in volume, sounding almost as panicked as before, when he dragged Ethan into his house.

It probably still is out there.

Ethan caught himself from falling onto his back as Mark suddenly stood up, dizziness clouding his vision because blood loss and sudden movement don’t go well together. But he had to go out there, he had to find a way to somehow prevent it from causing any harm again.

“We have to render that thing harmless, next thing I know, the monster is going to devour me in my sleep-“

“Mark!”

It has been a few minutes since Ethan last spoke, especially with such urge. His hand held tight onto Mark’s wrist, preventing him from impulsively storming outside without thinking.

“It’s- it’s not there anymore, trust me.”

“How would you know, you didn’t-“

“Please, just… trust me. It is not there anymore; the pool is empty.”

The two men locked eyes. Ethan’s grip on his wrist was tight and in his expression he read nothing but honesty. Mark stepped towards Ethan, not once breaking eye contact. Ethan’s grip loosened a bit.

“Ethan… I want to believe you, but- I have to see it with my own eyes.”

Stepping outside, his heartrate picked up once again. The scenery didn’t change at all with the dark night sky above their heads and the blue neon lights faintly illuminating the pool.

Both of his hands were clutching a kitchen knife which almost seemed pathetic as it could probably barely withstand the creature’s sharp fangs and claws.

Slowly, he stepped near the pool. Ethan followed him but he kept a safe distance from the body of water.

As the minutes passed by, Mark became more confident, every now and then bending over the pool edge, searching the ground for a shadow, an apparition, movement, anything. All in vain.

“But… how…” Mark’s thoughts were spinning, every possible solution to his questions met with a dead end. It didn’t make _any_ sense. _Was he crazy?_

Mark jolted when Ethan put his hand onto Mark’s shoulder. He could barely recognize Ethan’s eyes in the darkness but what he felt was a genuine squeeze of reassurance on his shoulder. Or rather what tried to be reassuring but ended up feeling uneasy.

“Mark, I… I need to tell you something.”


End file.
